ReviewMolecular ecology2016
Natural history collections as windows on evolutionary processes.
Review in Molecular ecology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed.
- refloraR: An R package for efficiently retrieving and analyzing plant specimen data from the Herbário Virtual Reflora.Applications in plant sciences · 2026Article
- Museum Genomics of an Important Swedish Pollinator Reveals Population Stability Across Time.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Why we need more individual-based parasite research.Parasites & vectors · 2026Review
- Egg Morphology and Clutch Size in Shrikes (Laniidae) From Historical Oological Collections: Interspecific Patterns and Modest Temporal Change.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Dental Calculus Formation Is Linked to Diet and Phylogeny in Mammals.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Shedding Light on the Past: Temporal Classification of Zoological Specimens from Museum Collections with Portable NIR Sensors and Multivariate Error Modeling.Analytical chemistry · 2026Article
- Recovering Historical eDNA From Museum-Preserved Filter Feeders via Non-Destructive Metabarcoding.Molecular ecology resources · 2026Article
- Scientists' Warning on the Rapid Evolution of Parasites in the Anthropocene.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Unveiling cryptic diversity: integrative taxonomy discovers eight new species of moths and exposes biodiversity shortfalls in a Neotropical region.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Temporal and spatial shifts in the foliar fungal endophyte community of Norway spruce (Picea abies) over 150 years in Finland.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Article
- Digitisation of historical specimens from the Hog Island Audubon Camp Natural History Collection, Maine.Biodiversity data journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Mozambique's Colonial-Era Non-Human Primate Collection at the National Museum of Natural History and Science of Lisbon: Taxonomy, Provenance, and Historical Context.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- Ozboneviz: an Australian precedent in FAIR 3D imagery and extended biodiversity collections.Bioscience · 2025Article
- From herbarium to life: Implications of reviving historical fungi for modern plant pathology and agriculture.iScience · 2025Article
- Reframing Formalin: A Molecular Opportunity Enabling Historical Epigenomics and Retrospective Gene Expression Studies.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Review
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- Article
- How new plant species have been discovered in China: collection gaps and preferences over the past century.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Natural history collections provide an immense record of biodiversity on Earth. These repositories have traditionally been used to address fundamental questions in biogeography, systematics and conservation. However, they also hold the potential for studying evolution directly. While some of the best direct observations of evolution have come from long-term field studies or from experimental studies in the laboratory, natural history collections are providing new insights into evolutionary change in natural populations. By comparing phenotypic and genotypic changes in populations through time, natural history collections provide a window into evolutionary processes. Recent studies utilizing this approach have revealed some dramatic instances of phenotypic change over short timescales in response to presumably strong selective pressures. In some instances, evolutionary change can be paired with environmental change, providing a context for potential selective forces. Moreover, in a few cases, the genetic basis of phenotypic change is well understood, allowing for insight into adaptive change at multiple levels. These kinds of studies open the door to a wide range of previously intractable questions by enabling the study of evolution through time, analogous to experimental studies in the laboratory, but amenable to a diversity of species over longer timescales in natural populations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.